Pneumatosis Intestinalis with a Curious Etiology

​BY ALISON BROOMFIELD​; ARJUN BHARADWAJ; KHALID MALIK, MDA 68-year-old woman was brought to the emergency department from a nursing home with a complaint of abdominal distention. The patient had no focal pain, just overall diffuse discomfort in her abdomen and upper pelvis. She and the nursing home staff did not know when her symptoms started. The patient had taken acetaminophen, but it had no effect on her discomfort.The discomfort did not radiate to her chest, back, or shoulders. The patient and nursing home indicated no recent trauma or falls, but the patient reported two episodes of non-bilious, non-bloody vomiting and three incidents of non-bloody diarrhea over the previous two days.The patient had a history of schizoaffective disorder, dementia, hypertension, constipation, and emesis, and she had had aspirate pneumonia. She had no history of gastrointestinal or liver disease, prior surgeries, or cancer. She did not smoke or use ethanol or illicit drugs. She had not travelled anywhere or come in contact with anyone who was sick. She also did not have fever, chills, dizziness, loss of consciousness, shortness of breath, headache, migraine, or bloody/melena stool. Her medications were haloperidol, benztropine, aripiprazole, quetiapine, acetaminophen, amantadine, bisacodyl, clindamycin, levofloxacin, multivitamin, iron, and magnesium.Her vitals were oral temperature 97.5°F, blood pressure 100/75 mm Hg, heart rate 79 bpm, respiration 18 bpm, and oxygen saturation 95% on...
Source: The Case Files - Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: research